Monday, November 3, 2025

More Than 300 Pharmacies Have Closed Since the Start of the Year – Number of Pharmacies at Its Lowest Level Since 1977

The number of pharmacies in Germany has fallen to its lowest level in nearly five decades. According to recent data from the ABDA – Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists, there were only 16,732 pharmacies nationwide at the end of the third quarter of 2025 — a decrease of 309 compared to the previous year.

In the third quarter alone, 71 locations were closed. In total, there were 355 closures in the first nine months of the year, compared to just 46 new openings. The downward trend continues clearly, even if the pace has slightly slowed. Traditionally, closure numbers rise again in the final quarter.

ABDA President Thomas Preis warns: “With every pharmacy that closes, access to medicines becomes more difficult for people.” The loss of local pharmacies leads to a significant deterioration in healthcare, especially in rural areas.

Preis points to the lack of fee adjustments for more than a decade as the main reason: “The government has failed to increase pharmacists’ remuneration, while inflation and wage growth have steadily eroded business results.”

The ABDA is particularly critical of the proposed Pharmacy Reform Act from the Federal Ministry of Health, which, according to Preis, “will further accelerate the decline in pharmacy numbers and weaken the nationwide system to the detriment of citizens.” The poor economic situation also makes it increasingly difficult to recruit qualified staff.

Preis demands: “The federal government must finally act and implement its own coalition agreement, which clearly calls for a fee increase. Only then can pharmacies stabilize and rebuild.”

With its position paper “Into a Healthy Future with the Pharmacy,” the ABDA has already presented concrete proposals for how to secure access to medicines in the long term.